In conjunction with the First 100 Years Project, LexisNexis invited professionals from across the legal industry to attend an evening celebrating the first female Supreme Court Judge: Baroness Hale. Instantly oversubscribed, over 160 guests signed up to join us at the Supreme Court to share an evening listening to Baroness Hale’s life and career. As guests piled into the main hall, the atmosphere became increasingly celebratory; women and men of all ages eagerly awaited the interview with Baroness Hale, excited to hear more about the life of the woman who has, more than once, made history.

Softly spoken, decisive and fiercely intelligent, Baroness Hale astutely commands the attention of any room. An expansive presence on the bench, Baroness Hale is the leading light in child and family cases. Her pioneering work at the Law commission led to the creation of some of her more personal victories: the Children Act 1989, the Family Law Act 1996, and the Mental Capacity Act 2005. All of which, she explains, put the interests of the vulnerable at the heart of proceedings.

Baroness Hale’s career has spanned more than 40 years, and in that time, it’s fair to say that she has ruffled more than a few feathers. Upsetting establishment norms has been her unwitting raison d’etre since the beginning; having consistently infiltrated traditionally all male spaces, she herself acknowledges: “I’m used to being the first.” As if to set the tone for the rest of her career, Baroness Hale studied Law at Cambridge as part of the first cohort of women ever to graduate with a diploma.

While Baroness Hale’s legacy is demonstrably her work on the bench, her resonance extends beyond her enviable career. As one of the first women to demand more of her profession, Baroness Hale has steadily unpicked the seams of the bar, making room for more women to come after. Her visibility is undoubtedly vital in ensuring the bench becomes diversified and better represents the people it is designed to serve. As one of the most influential and powerful women in the country, her voice adds volume to growing calls for a more diverse and representative judicial bench. For aspiring judges, ambitious barristers, hungry students and curious young girls, Baroness Hale is an essential figurehead when it comes to visualising what can be achieved.

Inspiration was at the heart of the evening. Throughout the night, we invited guests to share their female role models on post it notes displayed across the venue, and over short Vox Pop videos. We quickly gathered a sense that role models come from all corners; many guests listed women close to them as their inspiration, while others recognised the impact of historic figures such as monarchs, pioneers and suffragettes.

Platforms such as the First 100 Year project are essential in furthering conversations surrounding the realisation of gender equality. As Baroness Hale discussed, diversity at the Bar is an important goal for all of us, to ensure that the pool of talent coming to the bar is as broad as possible and draws upon diverse perspectives and skill sets. Developing diversity at the Bar is an essential component of extending the rule of law. The Rule of Law, in its most basic form, is the principle that no one is above the law. As such there should be equal representation of all people in those that work in the law and support the Rule of Law. At the heart of “equal representation” is an acknowledgement that our society is diverse, and as such those that represent our society should be representative of that diversity.

Advancing the rule of law globally underpins LexisNexis core values. Our commitment to advancing the rule of law unifies our company and the people that work here. Recent examples of how we do this in the UK include our partnership with The First 100 Years charity. The First 100 Years is a ground-breaking history project charting the journey of women in law since 1919. The project’s vision is to ensure a strong and equal future for all women in the legal profession through a deep understanding of the past combined with a celebration of today.

To learn more about our important work with the First 100 Years charity, click here

Corporate & Commercial—tune in from 0:12 secs
On 13th January, a ban on payment surcharges were implemented for consumer transactions such as debit, credit and PayPal Payments. (See LNB News: PSD2 comes into effect)

The Court of Appeal has restated in two recent cases (Process Components Ltd v Kason Kek-Gardner Ltd) and (Interactive E-Solutions (IES) v 03B) the words in business contracts will, generally, mean they say – even where they have bizarre or unintended consequences. The only exceptions are where it’s necessary to imply a term for the contract to achieve its purpose or where the term is so obvious it goes without saying.

We look at the recent case of Guvera who acquired Blinkbox Music (BM) TUPE – identifying when and if a ‘transfer’ has happened.

Law Matters. Our 200th AnniversaryThis year we celebrate our 200th anniversary. To mark the occasion we have produced a bicentenary film, which is a tribute to the legal profession and how it has helped transform society over the past 200 years. Watch it here.

]]>http://blogs.lexisnexis.co.uk/inhouse/commercial-news-update-march-2018-protecting-documents-from-disclosure-gig-economy-and-4bn-equal-pay-claim/feed/0Aspire Event – Tuesday 20th March 2018http://blogs.lexisnexis.co.uk/inhouse/aspire-event-tuesday-20th-march-2018/
http://blogs.lexisnexis.co.uk/inhouse/aspire-event-tuesday-20th-march-2018/#respondFri, 16 Feb 2018 12:28:15 +0000http://blogs.lexisnexis.co.uk/inhouse/?p=7649Read More...]]>We hope you can join our next Aspire networking and personal development event for in-house lawyers, in the early stages of their careers. Register today.

When:

Tuesday 20th March 2018

Where:

Lexis Nexis, Lexis House, 30 Farringdon Street, EC4A 4HH

Agenda:

4:00pm: Registration and networking4:30pm: Soft skills: Building your Executive Presence | Joanna Day (previously Director of Legal Services for Santander Corporate Banking)Are you “leadership material”? More importantly, do others perceive you to be? You can have the experience and qualifications, but without executive presence, your career advancement can be limited. Considered by many as the “X-factor” in leadership, this session explores what executive presence is and critically how you can achieve it.Break5:30pm Legal skills: How to understand and assess risk | Emma Dickin, Risk and Compliance specialist at LexisNexis
Managing risk is not a one-off event, it is an ongoing process. This session will cover practical advice on how to establish your organisation’s appetite and provide suggestions on gathering information from stakeholders and various sources to identify risks, evaluate and record identified risks.Break6:30pm: Interactive Q&A with guest speakers | Senior in-house counsel
Join in the discussion as senior in-house counsel share their personal stories and top tips to help you accelerate and plan your career development.7pm – 8pm: Networking drinks

Register:

Aspire is free to join. It is open to all in-housers in the early stages of their legal career. For more information about our speakers or to register, please click here.

Corporate & Commercial—tune in from 0:15 secs
The Small Business Commissioner (‘SBC’) is now open for business. It aims to empower small businesses by providing access to advice and information and by disincentivising poor payment practices.

Employment—tune in from 5:30 secs
In 2013 the Employment Rights Act (EAT) was amended to allow employers to have frank conversations with employees without the risk of those conversations being used in a subsequent court or tribunal. Some qualifications have been made to these provisions, namely in the recent case of Basra v BJSS.

]]>http://blogs.lexisnexis.co.uk/inhouse/commercial-news-update-february-2018-small-business-commissioner-now-open-covert-surveillance-risk-new-e-learning-package-to-prevent-bid-rigging/feed/0Contract management: minimising risk, maximising efficiency – an interview with Andrew Stewarthttp://blogs.lexisnexis.co.uk/inhouse/contract-management-minimising-risk-maximising-efficiency-an-interview-with-andrew-stewart/
http://blogs.lexisnexis.co.uk/inhouse/contract-management-minimising-risk-maximising-efficiency-an-interview-with-andrew-stewart/#respondSun, 28 Jan 2018 17:41:03 +0000http://blogs.lexisnexis.co.uk/inhouse/?p=7539Read More...]]>A business using multiple contracts for multiple purposes is a lawyer’s worst nightmare. How can processes be streamlined to improve efficiency and consistency and to minimise risk? Sophie Gould talks to Andrew Stewart, who was until recently Managing Attorney for Global Technology and Sourcing in BP Legal, about how he transformed their approach to contract management and its impact on the business’ ability to self-serve.

Tell us a little bit about your role and your team …

There are over 300 lawyers in the BP global legal team and a presence in more than 40 countries. I came to the role of Managing Attorney eight years ago. I ran a team of nine people, split between Houston, Sunbury and Budapest, supporting three key internal business functions. There is Global Business Services, a back-office process-driven organisation that does largely execution-only work, such as finance and accounting, invoice reconciliation and order entry. Secondly, there is Indirect Procurement, which buys things the BP Group needs strategically, or which are shared by everybody (for example, IT equipment and professional services). The third group we support is our IT organisation.

Contract management has been one of your biggest challenges – how did you approach it?

When I came into the role and started working within procurement, one of the first questions I asked was: what documentation and templates are you using? Different groups had their own templates and precedent banks in different places – I counted over 40 documents which had official or unofficial accreditation as an indirect procurement template. There was no consistency in approach to risk, structure or terminology. It was really confusing as to which document to use for which purpose. It became obvious that we could get rid of a lot of them and rationalise the remainder.

We started a process of analysis to see which templates were being used in which context, by which people and the output they needed to achieve. We didn’t want different templates for different categories and types of suppliers. The template needed to be as category or context free as possible – that was the most challenging part of the whole process. How do you design a suite of templates which everybody can use, whether they’re buying software services or contracting someone to water the plants?

We had to find a way to introduce category-specific content where it was needed. We did that with content, such as pre-set service descriptions and pricing schedules, that could be added to the modular vanilla suite of templates as required. All our contracts became consistent. The idea was that you bolted on any sector specifics as part of the schedules.

From four base templates we were able to cover all bases, ranging from a very slimmed down purchase order for one-off requirements through to an international, risk-averse complex services agreement for use in outsourcing and big complicated IT deals.

How did you sell the value of the new approach to contracts to the business?

The process manager and I took the indirect procurement leadership team through a long session to propose the positions we wanted to take across the entire template estate. We emphasised that these were their documents. Although prepared and owned by legal, they were their documents for use by the category managers and procurement professionals in their deals. It was very important for the leadership team to understand and sign-off on the risk positions and the attitudes that we’d adopted.

Once the leadership team had given their sign-off, it sent a strong message to the rest of the organisation. These weren’t just documents mandated by legal – these were documents created by legal for the benefit of procurement.

Our interaction with procurement became easier because we weren’t having to interpret and interrogate multiple templates. We created a standard set to work with and we could be a lot more efficient in our service delivery. We could also start to track the clauses and issues that were being negotiated most frequently and look at whether changes needed to be made to the templates or negotiating guidance.

The new process won’t necessarily suit all purposes and it can’t be all things to all people. Where you can get bogged down is trying to please all people for all purposes. You get into this constant cycle of assurance, reassurance, checking, approval and internal negotiation of the clauses. Getting the senior leadership team’s endorsement at a principle level allowed us to do what we needed to do without having to get buy-in at every level.

To what extent can the business now self-serve?

What made a big difference was the creation of our contracting know-how wiki – a wealth of information made available through a wiki-based platform, 24/7. It’s editable and fully searchable and ties in precisely to all the templates. For example, if you go into the termination page, you’ll see an analysis in the wiki of why BP needs certain termination rights and which rights are preferable rather than absolute must-haves. It also provides an understanding of what additional termination rights might be needed in different circumstances.

If someone has a contract query, they must go to the wiki first rather than coming to legal. The exception is when a contract is non-routine or complicated or high-risk.

By keeping the wiki continually updated, people have access to our current thinking and can maintain a consistent approach when engaging with suppliers. Fundamentally, it’s about risk. It’s about helping the procurement team, who are at the sharp end negotiating the deals, on the risks they should be thinking about. It allows them to conclude deals more effectively and efficiently.

What’s your long-term goal for contract management in the business?

The key goals were less reliance on legal, a faster and more efficient process, more consistency across the board and a more robust approach to understanding risk. In addition, there is an absolute determination to keep our contracting estate as small as possible so that we don’t have too many documents to maintain. We’ve been quite ruthless so far and have knocked back a lot of requests for new templates and documents.

What are the next steps?

Ideally one would automate the contract creation process and build legal’s negotiating guidance into the tool. It could track all the negotiations and make sure that whoever needs to know about a deviation from our standard approach does know about it. There’s a much greater level of consistency to be achieved through automated workflow tools. If legal’s intellectual input has gone into the tool, then there is no reason for the business to come to us for routine enquiries which saves time for real value add or difficult work.

Using technology to deliver value

Read these case studies to see how LexisNexis has helped leading brands use technology to deliver value:

“It’s saving us a bucket load of time! We can draft a contract in 15 minutes now, not ten hours. We conservatively estimate that from September to December, the Procurement team alone saved at least 210 man hours” Becky Jones, Legal Director, Company Secretary and Ethics and Compliance Officer, Coca Cola HBC, Ireland and Northern Ireland. Read more

“There’ve only been two times that I can recall where we’ve introduced a product that made people smile. One was the iPhone – the other was Lexis Draft.” Donald Munro, Head of Corporate Services, Harper Macleod. Read more

“I use it frequently and I recommend it to my colleagues all the time. When they ask me questions, I say there’s definitely a quick answer to that on PSL.” Michael Griss, In‑house lawyer, Vodafone Global Enterprise Read more

Are you an in-house lawyer working solo or part of a small legal team?

The rewards of working in a smaller in-house team are many, yet it can feel isolating. This free-to-join forum brings together in-house lawyers working solo or in smaller teams to network and learn from one another.

A chance to connect, swap stories, debate topical issues and share ideas. It aims to provide regular legal and soft-skills training, as well as mentoring, research papers and benchmarking services.

Breakfast Networking event – Wednesday 28 February 2018

Join like-minded senior counsel and enjoy a continental breakfast as you network, discuss and debate topical issues. The agenda includes:

Legal news update – a round-up of the latest news led by Iain Larkins of Radius Law, focused on the commercial aspects relevant to you and practical next steps to consider.

Brexit – an interactive session will be led by Holly Nankivell from the LexisNexis PSL team. It will include a brief overview of the latest and most pertinent legal issues and practical implications to consider, followed by more in-depth breakouts to discuss and share insights.

Please also join us for light refreshments and networking after the breakout session.

I have enjoyed attending the Flying Solo events. As a sole counsel, it’s great to have the opportunity to debate topics with other in-house counsel and have the benefit of concise expert guidance from Radius Law and LexisNexis.”

Corporate & Commercial—tune in from 0:20 secs
In 2018, we will see the impact of the EU Directive on the disclosure of non-financial and diversity information. Certain companies will need to provide their impact on employees, respect for human rights, anti-corruption and anti-bribery. This is applicable from financial years starting on 1st January 2018.

We will be seeing Mrs May’s package of measures on corporate governance implemented in 2018. Changes include mandating listed companies to reveal the pay ratio between bosses and typical workers, the creation of a public register to identify companies that had significant shareholder opposition to executive pay and an initiative to give workers a voice at the boardroom table. The reforms will be in force by June 2018.

Data Security—tune in from 1:50 secs
GDPR will be in force on the 25th May 2018 with headlines stating the max fines will shift from £500,000 to the higher £20m or 4% of turnover. There will be tighter rules for obtaining consent – particularly for e-marketing and new data breach requirements.

In addition, the European Commission plan to replace the existing Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) which is designed to catch new technologies such as WhatsApp that currently sit outside of it.

Employment—tune in from 3:25 secs
By 4th April 2018 private sector employers with at least 250 employees must publish gender pay differences.

From 6th April 2018, all payments in payments in lieu (PILON) for existing employees will be taxable and subject to national insurance.

In 2018 the 50 weeks shared parental leave and 37 weeks paid leave will be extended to include working grandparents. Specific dates are still to be confirmed.

We expect to see the outcomes of the two leading worker status cases in 2018; Pimlico Plumbers and Uber challenge the employers’ contention that the individuals they engaged were self-employed and did not have a right to minimum wage protection or holiday pay. Whatever happens it will be welcome clarity to this confused area of the law. Employers that wrongly assess the people they have engaged as self-employed rather than employees or workers risk significant claims.

The Asda equal pay case decision is expected in early 2018 which decided that there was equal value between staff engaged at their stores and their distribution centres and that, accordingly, their pay should be comparable.

In 2018 shop workers will have new rights to ‘opt out’ of additional Sunday working hours and there will be new duties on employers to notify employees of Sunday working rights.

Competition—tune in from 6:25 secs
A new European law to ban geo-blocking will likely be effective in 2018. There’s no exact date but it will soon be published in the EU Official Journal and the law will be in force nine months from the publication.

]]>http://blogs.lexisnexis.co.uk/inhouse/commercial-news-update-january-2018-corporate-governance-reporting-gdpr-geo-blocking-ban/feed/0Your step by step project plan to GDPR readinesshttp://blogs.lexisnexis.co.uk/inhouse/your-4-step-project-plan-to-gdpr-readiness/
http://blogs.lexisnexis.co.uk/inhouse/your-4-step-project-plan-to-gdpr-readiness/#respondWed, 03 Jan 2018 16:39:56 +0000http://blogs.lexisnexis.co.uk/inhouse/?p=7557Read More...]]>Allison Wooddisse, Head of In-House and Compliance, LexisNexis, considers what is on the horizon in relation to data protection and the GDPR for 2018 and what should be top of your to-do list right now on your journey to GDPR readiness.

At the time of writing, we still haven’t had final guidance from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) on consent under the General Data Protection Regulation, Regulation (EU) 2016/679. Nor have we had detailed guidance on the scope of legitimate interests, direct marketing under the GDPR, and lawful processing. There’s also great uncertainty about whether the ePrivacy Regulation (currently in draft form) will be finalised and in force to coincide with implementation of the GDPR.

What are the practical implications?

It’s extremely difficult for organisations to draft their privacy notices and policies in readiness for the GDPR. This is because privacy notices and policies must state the lawful ground on which data is processed.

Many organisations will wish to move away from consent as the default ground for processing personal data, because the GDPR raises the bar for the standard of consent. ‘Legitimate interest’ is an attractive alternative ground for processing, but the only available detailed guidance predates the GDPR.

Key steps to action now.

The good news is, there are practical steps you can take today to be ahead of the game.

Before preparing a privacy notice or policy it is critical that you comprehensively identify what data you process, why and how.

Armed with this information, you can then form a preliminary view on the most appropriate ground for each processing activity, including legitimate interests and consent. Then, and only then, can you draft your privacy notices and policies. Helpful tools to consider include a sample data processing map and data and information register.

What’s on the horizon?

As we are all aware, the GDPR will become directly applicable and enforceable in the UK from 25 May 2018. The Data Protection Bill is currently before Parliament and is expected to receive Royal Assent shortly in the New Year. We also have our fingers crossed for detailed guidance from the ICO or EU on lawful grounds for processing, legitimate interests, consent and direct marketing. But time is pressing on and organisations cannot wait for the regulators to tell them what to do.

The GDPR represents the biggest overhaul in data protection law for two decades. As the deadline approaches, organisations must continue to review their internal procedures and arrangements with data subjects, suppliers and other third parties to ensure they comply with the obligations under the new regime.

Get ahead of the game

Top of your to-do list right now.

1.Data mapping—find out whose data are you processing, why and how

2. Making a start on legitimate interests assessments—this can’t wait for detailed ICO guidance and there is enough information in the GDPR itself and pre-GDPR guidance to get ahead of the game.

Here, useful tools include a legitimate interest assessment to determine whether you have a legitimate interest in processing data under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and, if so, whether that legitimate interest is overridden by the rights and interests of the data subjects whose data you propose to process.

3. Overhauling your preference centre, or deciding whether to set up a preference centre if you don’t already have one.

Consider a preference centre supplier questionnaire to help you establish quicker and more effectively whether an externally supplied or maintained preference centre complies with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation, particularly around consent for marketing communications.

Your step by step project plan to GDPR readiness

We’re here to help you on your journey to GDPR readiness.

Our GDPR planner aims to help you prepare your business data compliance processes. It expands on the suggested set of actions for each of the 12 areas issued by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

This is one of many practical tools to help you manage your compliance obligations faster and more effectively within our LexisPSL Risk & Compliance module – created specifically to support in-house lawyers identify and manage risk in their organisations.

With email news alerts, monthly highlights and forecasts; practice notes explaining the “what and the why” in key areas of risk such as crisis management, anti-money laundering, anti-bribery & corruption; and an unmatched suite of precedents to help you put effective systems and process in place – fast. Request a free, no-obligation trial.

Have you ever wondered what life could be like as part of an in-house team?

Or what it takes to be external counsel to those in Commerce or Industry?

If yes, this free networking and careers event is for you.

Helping you plan the next step in your career development

Join us for a relaxed and informal evening, with career advice from the team at Douglas Scott, meet Legal Counsel from Vodafone and learn more about how to further support your personal and career development with tools created specifically to support junior in-house lawyer succeed from day one.

It’s also a great opportunity to network with other junior lawyers and discuss the next steps in your career.

With the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) coming into force on 25 May 2018, the legal industry is already mobilising. A robust compliance programme is now vital – especially given the scale of fines involved.

Although the parameters of the GDPR are known, one key issue still concerns industry leaders – namely, how to encourage wider corporate engagement with compliance.

Typically, data protection is seen as the sole concern of the legal team, with little to no buy-in from C-suite executives or the wider business.

We spoke with senior counsel around the country to provide you with the insights and guidance you need to navigate the run-up to this May’s regime change.

Know your business

The first step is understanding the identity of your company and its culture. As a lawyer, aligning your advice and initiating a strategy that fits with your company’s values and vision is a must – there is no one size fits all approach.

For Andrew Magowan, general counsel of ASOS, setting up a compliance department was a non-starter; he knew no one would utilise it. Instead, he subtly worked compliance into corporate sensibility under the umbrella of social responsibility.

GE, meanwhile, created a Manga-style compliance comic book for its offices in Japan, which was popular with its employees. By taking cultural differences into account, GE was able to choose an effective method for delivering the compliance message.

Developing an awareness of the particular threats and challenges that your company may face following the implementation of the GDPR is also vital; forewarned is forearmed.

Convince the board

Getting executives on board with compliance is crucial; the barriers and obstacles put in place by the C-suite can make even the best, well-reasoned compliance programme difficult to deliver.

Board members need to be convinced of the consequences of disregarding, or not supporting, a compliance programme. ‘Don’t go to them with a problem’, as one senior counsel stressed. ‘Go armed with solutions and options.’ This advice was echoed by a GC who observed: ‘The board get fed up of being told about fines and sanctions. Use your sales and communication skills to draw out the positives and incentivise them.’

But preparation comes before persuasion. Providing board members with relevant information to look at in advance can help reduce the time it takes to communicate your message. Furthermore, tailor your message to suit your audience. Do your homework beforehand and adapt your style of communication to the individuals in question.

However, if direct communication does not prove effective, consider bringing in an external, objective adviser; executives often have a great deal of respect for the word of an ‘expert’.

Engage the wider company

GCs and in-house lawyers also must find a way to bring the compliance message to the company as a whole. While setting the tone from top down is essential, some of the most successful programmes start from the bottom up.

Compliance is, understandably, perceived to be a dry topic, but there are workarounds. Apps, for example, can be effective learning tools, as the information can be absorbed in manageable, bite-sized chunks. Reckitt Benckiser General Counsel for Group Legal Affairs, Claire Debney, pointed out that Reckitt Benckiser uses an app that employs a ‘Can I, can’t I?’ style, which is an easily adaptable model.

Entertainment and games are another option. Vodafone, for example, has created a ‘snakes and ladders’ compliance game and T-Systems (a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom) uses YouTube videos to train and engage its employees in compliance.

Conclusion

Ultimately, tailoring the compliance message to your company’s identity, as well as to the individuals within it, is the best advice for helping to move your company towards a genuinely compliant culture in the run-up to the GDPR. But you will need to roll your sleeves up – it is not enough to simply deliver the message from on high. You need to get involved, give advice and, importantly, pick your battles carefully.

But there is still time. The changes don’t come into effect until May 2018 and, as Claire Debney points out, you need to ‘be patient – it’s a marathon, not a sprint. Work with and capitalise on the strengths in the business. Find your champions’.

Download your free GDPR planner

We’re here to help provide you with the support you need in the coming months.

Our GDPR Planner expands on the suggested set of actions for each of the 12 areas issued by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

Rather than presenting them by subject matter, it does so chronologically, breaking down the necessary actions over four periods of time – saving you time by providing a comprehensive project plan to work from:

(1) groundwork

(2) planning

(3) implementation

(4) embed / test / review

This is one of many practical tools to help you manage your compliance obligations faster and more effectively within our LexisPSL Risk & Compliance module – created specifically to support in-house lawyers identify and manage risk in their organisations.

With email news alerts, monthly highlights and forecasts; practice notes explaining the “what and the why” in key areas of risk such as crisis management, anti-money laundering, anti-bribery & corruption; and an unmatched suite of precedents to help you put effective systems and process in place – fast. Request a free, no-obligation trial.